Eight weeks into the Obama administration, do you have more, or less, confidence in its ability to manage the banking crisis? Bonus question: What single suggestion would you offer Tim Geithner right now?

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Send to a friendEight weeks into the Obama administration, do you have more, or less, confidence in its ability to manage the banking crisis? Bonus question: What single suggestion would you offer Tim Geithner right now?

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The Obama team is missing so many critical appointments in Treasury and elsewhere that it is impossible to know whether we should have more or less confidence. Let’s hope the holes are filled and/or confirmed quickly. This is a crisis, and the tug-of-war rope needs to be fully manned. As far as Secretary Geithner is concerned, he is simply not an effective public spokesperson. The populist public wants some derriere-kicking, not derriere-kissing. Geithner is better suited to the board rooms than the barricades. He should let others channel the deep anger of a provoked citizenry.

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